Bundestag MP: we should strengthen Russian language's position n Germany"

MP for Die Linke at the Bundestag Andrej Hunko said that the Russian language's position in Germany should not only be preserved, but also strengthened.

"The response [of the German government] to my request clearly shows that knowledge of the Russian language is very much in demand in the federal government's structures," he said. The MP asked the federal government for information on the current situation of the Russian language in Germany.

“With the development of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Russian language is obviously becoming increasingly important in the Eurasian space as the language of economic cooperation. Against this background, I am very concerned that they plan to close the conference-translation into Russian master course at the University of Applied Linguistics and Translatology in Leipzig. I urge the administration to continue this course," Andrej Hunko noted.

According to him, the importance of the Russian language for Germany can be seen, for example, in financing the the Russian version of Deutsche Welle. “In recent years, which were especially tense for German-Russian relations, the budget of the broadcaster's Russian version has almost doubled. However, the Russian language should not become an instrument of media impact,” the MP emphasized.

At the same time, he pointed out that language should be regarded primarily as a key to Russian society and its culture. “Although the Russian language ranks fourth among employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after English, French and Spanish, only about a third of German diplomats in Russia speak the language of the country of their residence. This fact surprises me very much, since we know that it’s impossible to understand the country and its people without knowing its language,” Andrej Hunko concluded.